Courts Included in a Federal Court Directory

When you need to contact a federal court directly in order to obtain copies of records or simply determine whether your case is a federal matter or not, a federal court directory is quite beneficial. There are three types of federal courts which you may need to contact: the U.S. Supreme Court, the U.S. District Courts, or the U.S. Courts of Appeals.

U.S. District Court Directories

The United States is divided into 94 separate judicial districts which each have their own U.S. District Court. These courts hear federal matters from within their corresponding districts, which may include an entire state or only part of it. Each state contains at least one U.S. District Court, including the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, but some may include more than one. For example, California has multiple districts including the Northern District of California. 

These district courts also include bankruptcy courts, which deal exclusively with these types of cases. Bankruptcy is a federal matter, so if you plan on filing or need to find bankruptcy records, you’ll need to address the correct bankruptcy court—not the state courts. 

To obtain district or bankruptcy records from your area, you’ll need to contact the corresponding district court directly.

U.S. Court of Appeals

Each of the 94 federal judiciary districts is assigned to one of twelve federal circuits. One of these circuits is located in the District of Columbia. These circuits contain one U.S. Court of Appeals to hear appeals from the district courts within that region.

An additional U.S. Court of Appeals exists which is dedicated only to the Federal Circuit. This court hears appeals from agencies and special federal courts such as the U.S. Court of International Trade, the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. The geographical area where these cases originated is unimportant--merely the subject matter is considered. These courts may at times be referred to as “circuit courts.”

U.S. Supreme Court

The highest court in the nation, the U.S. Supreme Court, is housed in Washington, D.C., and hears appeals from all lower federal courts and sometimes state supreme courts. Several requests for appeals are filed with the Supreme Court, though only a few are granted. This is because there is only one such court to hear cases from across the country. Typically, the cases chosen by the Supreme Court to be heard on an annual basis are so because they present important questions about the Constitution or federal law.

Judgments and rulings by the Supreme Court are frequently referred to in subsequent similar cases, as the court’s job is to interpret the law accordingly. Majority and dissenting opinions published by the Chief Justice of the United States or one of the eight associate justices. You can typically find the current cases being considered and recent decisions or opinions posted on the Supreme Courts’ website.